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Ok very simple task yet difficult for me as a novice to solve.
I have a bat file in a folder in my c: drive. This bat file call an EXE file inside the same folder. The BAT file also feeds some other files to teh EXE to run properly. The bat file works fine if I run it through command prompt.
I tried this code from eclipse but nothing happens i.e. Bat is not executed at all - where is the mistake?
import java.io.*; import java.util.*; public class utilities { public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException { //cmd = cmd+" "+a+" "+b; try { String[] cmd = new String[]{"cmd.exe" ,"/c","C:\\EnergyPlusV6-0-0\\RunEplus.bat", "test5", "my"}; //cmd = new String[]{"cmd" ,"/c","C:\\EnergyPlusV6-0-0\\Epl-run.bat"}; Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd); p.waitFor(); System.out.println(p.exitValue()); } catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } }


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The European Cosmetics Association, "Colipa," is now Cosmetics Europe—The Personal Care Association. The association has represented European beauty companies and national associations for 50 years.
According to a press statement, the name change comes at a time when the European cosmetics industry represents one-third of the global market, across the entire range of products.
"The European cosmetics industry is a fundamental driver of innovation," said Fabio Franchina, president, Cosmetics Europe. "Our industry has responded effectively to new challenges in a globalized market. Cosmetics Europe—The Personal Care Association will continue to work with member companies and associations to enable our industry to thrive and in order to maintain an effective dialogue with our stakeholders."
In Europe, the industry employs a total of 1.7 million people, either directly or indirectly, including approximately 17,000 scientists. Cosmetics Europe—The Personal Care Association works with 18 multinational companies, 27 national associations, and 4,000 small and medium enterprises toward ensuring that European consumers are offered safe, innovative and effective products.
"The European cosmetics industry is the flagship of the cosmetics industry worldwide," said Bertil Heerink, director-general, Cosmetics Europe. "[In 2012], our trade association celebrates half a century of working together for our industry. The change of name to reflects the importance of this dynamic industry globally."

subset: commoncrawl


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Crusader invasions of Egypt
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The Crusader invasion of Egypt (1154–1169) was a series of campaigns undertaken by the Kingdom of Jerusalem to strengthen its position in the Levant by taking advantage of the weakness of Fatimid Egypt.
The war began as part of a succession crisis in the Fatimid Caliphate, which began to crumble under the pressure of Syria and the Crusader states. While one side called for help from Nur ad-Din Zangi, the other called for Crusader assistance. As the war progressed however it became a war of conquest. A number of Syrian campaigns into Egypt were stopped short of total victory by the aggressive campaigning of Amalric I of Jerusalem. Even so, the Crusaders generally speaking did not have things go their way, despite several sackings. A combined Byzantine-Crusader siege of Damietta failed in 1169, the same year that Salah ad-Din, also known as Saladin in the West, took power in Egypt as vizier. In 1171 Saladin became Sultan of Egypt and the Crusaders thereafter turned their attention to the defence of their Kingdom, which, despite being surrounded by Syria and Egypt, held for another 16 years. Later crusades tried to support the Kingdom of Jerusalem by targeting the danger that was Egypt, but to no avail.
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Following the capture of Jerusalem by the forces of the First Crusade, the Fatimids of Egypt launched regular raids into Palestine against the Crusaders, while Zengi of Syria launched a series of successful attacks against the Principality of Antioch. The Second Crusade aimed to reverse the gains of Zengi, ironically with an assault on Damascus, Zengi's most powerful rival. The siege failed and forced the Kingdom to turn south for better fortunes.
The Fatimid Caliphate in the 12th century was riddled with internal squabbles. In the 1160s, Power lay not in the hands of the Fatimid Caliph Al-'Āḍid, but in the hands of the Vizier of Egypt, Shawar. The situation in Egypt made it ripe for conquest, either by Crusaders or by the forces of Zengi's successor, Nur ad-Din Zangi. The Crusader capture of Ascalon in 1154 meant that now the Kingdom was at war in two fronts, but Egypt now had an enemy supply base close at hand.
Intervention of Nur ad-Din, 1163–1164
In 1163, Shawar, the ousted Vizier of Egypt called Zengi for support in reinstating him to his former position as the de facto ruler of Egypt. Nur ad-Din agreed to support his cause - an alliance between Syria and Egypt would ensure the demise of the Crusaders.[citation needed] Little did Nur ad-Din realize that, while his plan would succeed, it would not be he who would enjoy such unity.
On May 1164 Shawar became vizier of Egypt. He was however a mere figurehead to Nur ad-Din who had installed his general Shirkuh as ruler of Egypt. Shawar became unsatisfied with this and called upon the enemy of the Sunni Muslims, Amalric I, King of Jerusalem.
Amalric invades; Second Crusader invasion, 1164
Amalric I had his own designs on Egypt. Therefore, when Shawar invited him into Egypt, he could not turn down such an offer. At Bilbeis, Amalric together with Shawar his Shi'ite ally, besieged Shirkuh. However, Nur ad-Din moved his forces against the Crusader state of Antioch and despite being a Byzantine protectorate (Manuel was in the Balkans) defeated and captured Bohemond III of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli at the Battle of Harim. Amalric immediately raced north to rescue his vassal. Even so, Shirkuh evacuated Egypt too so it was a victory for Shawar who retained Egypt.
Shirkuh returns and third Crusader invasion, 1166–1167
Shawar's rule in Egypt did not last long before Shirkuh returned in 1166 to take back Egypt. Shawar played his Crusader card again and this time Amalric believed an open battle would be able to settle the scores. Unlike Shirkuh, Amalric had naval supremacy in the Mediterranean (though to be fair there were few Syrian ports to the Mediterranean under Nur ad-Din) and took a quick coastal route to Egypt, allowing him to link up with his ally Shawar just as Nur ad-Din's deputy Shirkuh arrived.
At Cairo, the combined Fatimid-Crusader army contemplated the next move while Shirkuh, outside the Pyramids of Giza made an unexpected move for the south. The Fatimid-Crusader army followed to the Battle of al-Babein, where fighting was bloody but inconclusive. Even so, the Crusader-Fatimids pursued the Syrians, whose plan to use Alexandria as a port came to nothing when the Crusader fleet arrived. At Alexandria, the besieged Shirkuh agreed to leave Egypt alone in return for a Crusader withdrawal. Amalric left with a favorable treaty resulting in Egyptian tribute to Jerusalem and a friendly Shawar in control.
Fourth Crusader invasion, 1168–1169
At this point in time the Crusaders should have focused on strengthening their position against Syria, but instead Amalric was tempted by the Hospitaller Knights to attack Egypt and take it. Manuel Komnenos received the idea well. The alliance was still being finalized when Amalric launched a quick attack against Bilbeis in 1168, massacring the population. Shawar appealed to Damascus and Shirkuh returned. When faced with an imminent attack by Amalric, Shawar ordered the burning of his own capital city, Fustat. Shirkuh then fought off Amalric, killed the untrustworthy Shawar, and seized power. Shirkuh himself died two months later and his nephew, Saladin took power as regent.
At Damietta, the Byzantine-Crusader alliance materialized into a siege of the port. The Crusaders attacked late while the Byzantines, after three months abandoned the siege. In 1171, after the death of Caliph Al-Adid, Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan while the Crusaders under Amalric were forced to retreat, having lost many men due to disease and warfare. The Knights Hospitaller became bankrupt after the operation but made a quick recovery financially. The same could not be said for the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, surrounded by enemies now faced inevitable defeat. Saladin could raise armies potentially numbering 100,000 or more with Syria and Egypt under his control. Nur ad-Din however was still alive until 1174 and Saladin's power in Egypt was seen as a rebellion against his vassalage to Nur ad-Din. After the latter's death Syria and Egypt remained united. A few Crusader victories, notably at Montgisard and a failed Ayyubid siege of Tiberias allowed the Crusaders to stave off defeat until 1187. By 1189 the Crusader realm had been diminished beyond all strength and relied increasingly on politically motivated and inexperienced western reinforcements.
However, after the fall of Jerusalem in 1187, the focus of the Crusaders shifted decisively towards Egypt and less so towards the Levant. This can be seen in the Third Crusade, where Richard the Lionheart recognized the importance of Egypt and twice suggested an invasion of the region. An assault against the Levant could not succeed without the resources and manpower of Egypt, which currently gave the Islamic powers in the region a decisive advantage. The Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Alexandrian Crusades all had Egypt as the intended target.
During the Fifth Crusade (1218-1221) a large force of Crusaders led by the papal legate Pelagio Galvani and John of Brienne took Damietta. The expeditionary force included French, German, Flemish and Austrian crusaders and a Frisian fleet. The army marched on Cairo but was cut off by flooding of the Nile and the campaign ended in disaster with Pelagio forced to surrender with what remained of his army.
During the Seventh Crusade King Louis IX of France invaded Egypt (1249-1250) and after occupying Damietta he marched towards Cairo. However the forces led by Robert I, Count of Artois were defeated at the Battle of Al Mansurah and then King Louis and his main army were defeated at the Battle of Fariskur where his entire army was either killed or captured. The king suffered the humiliation of having to pay an enormous ransom for his freedom.
The temporary victories were followed by defeats, evacuations or negotiations - ultimately amounting to nothing. By 1291, Acre, the last major Crusader fortress in the Holy Land fell to the forces of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, and any remaining territories on the mainland were lost over the next decade.


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By now you have had a chance to read and study a great deal of mentor texts. It's important to ask yourself questions about what you have read. Some questions that we've asked ourselves are:
• Why the character did/reacted to something (Motivation)
• What were your feelings about the outcome of the problem (Satisfying ending)
• Why something happened the way it did (Story arc)
• Why the author chose to end the story that way (Ending)
When we ask ourselves these types of questions, we can gain deeper insight into the workings of the text and pictures. For author and illustrator interviews and general writing for kids, you can visit www.KidLit411.com
Happy writing!
The KidLit411 Team
ELAINE KIELY KEARNS is a picture book and middle grade writer. Armed with a master's degree in Education, she spends her time perusing the internet for golden nuggets of information about children's writing for KidLit411. |
SYLVIA LIU writes & illustrates for kids. Her picture book, A MORNING WITH GONG GONG, will be published by Lee & Low Books. Her portfolio is enjoyingplanetearth.com, she blogs at sylvialiuland.com, and she helps run kidlit411.com. |


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Jihun Yu, a doctoral candidate in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, has been selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to participate in a summer internship program.
Jihun Yu, a doctoral candidate in New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, has been selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to participate in a summer internship program designed to provide real-world experience to students interested in careers in motion picture computer graphics, technology, and research. Yu was one of five interns chosen by the Academy's Science and Technology Council.
Yu has been conducting groundbreaking research in graphics simulation of physical systems, and, in particular, how to make fluids and flames appear more realistic. Yu's work, in collaboration with NYU Computer Science Professor Chee Yap and Greg Turk, a Georgia Tech professor, will have potential applications in film making and visual effects.
This summer, Yu will join the Research & Development Department at Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic, the visual effects company behind such films as "Jurassic Park," "Iron Man," "Avatar," and George Lucas' "Star Wars" films.
"The Academy is committed to developing the next generation of innovators in science and technology for the motion picture art form," said Elizabeth Cohen, the Council's internship program chair. "These mentor-guided internships provide valuable hands-on, career-related experience while exposing students to the practical application of technology and expanding their academic education."
Now in its fourth year, the program provides eight-to-twelve week internships that give students hands-on experience with advanced motion picture technologies. Industrial Light & Magic, Pixar Animation Studios, Rhythm & Hues Studios, Technicolor, and the Technology Council will serve as internship hosts; the Council provides a stipend of $4,000 to each student.
Established in 2003 by the Academy's Board of Governors, the Science and Technology Council provides a forum for the exchange of information, promotes cooperation among diverse technological interests within the industry, sponsors publications, fosters educational activities and preserves the history of science and technology of motion pictures.


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A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 26, 2011 | Carl E. Olson
• Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a
• Psa 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
• 1 Cor 10:16-17
• Jn 6:51-58
In my late teens I began to have questions about the beliefs and practices of the small Fundamentalist Bible chapel—co-founded by my parents—I had attended most of my life. Many of these questions were only half-formed at the time, but later came into sharper focus, causing me to critically rethink much I had been taught.
Why was it, I wondered, that I had heard several sermons about Rahab the harlot (Josh 2 and 6), but only one about Mary, the mother of Jesus? Why did we celebrate Easter and the Resurrection of Christ, but ignored Good Friday and the commemoration of Jesus' death? And why did we celebrate the Lord's Supper each Sunday, but always emphasized that our communion service was only "symbolic" in nature?
This latter topic was especially vexing. And it became even more troubling after I attended an Evangelical Bible college for two years. I heard sermons and lectures about the miraculous gift of the manna (Ex 16; Num 11), but I don't recall ever hearing a sermon or lecture about the final twenty verses of the sixth chapter of John. That passage fascinated and troubled me. I read it again and again, mulling over the stunning words, heard in today's Gospel reading, uttered by Jesus: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you."
John 6, especially verses 51-71, was the most bothersome passage in the Bible for me as a Protestant. That section of Scripture played an essential role in the decision my wife and I made to become Catholic, entering the Church together in 1997. Yes, there were many other important issues, including Church authority, history, Mary, and the other sacraments. But at the heart of our hunger was a desire for the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
"For my flesh is true food," Jesus told his disciples and the others listening to him, "and my blood is true drink." I became convinced of what the Church taught—and had taught for two thousand years—about the Real Presence: "In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he 'poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par 1365).
Four times in John 6 the words "Amen, amen" (or "Truly, truly) are uttered by Jesus (vs 26, 32, 47, 53). Each signifies a transition and a teaching of great importance; each is a deeper revelation into the person and work of Christ. First, Jesus rebuked the people for seeking only after earthly, temporal food—they instead should believe in him (v. 29). Secondly, Jesus emphasized that it is his Father, not Moses, who gave the manna in the desert. Third, Jesus strongly stated that belief in him is eternal life (v. 47) and that he is "the bread of life" (v. 48). He then announced, to the amazement of those present, that the bread he referred to is his flesh. "This is the bread that came down from heaven," Jesus stated, "Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."
Jesus had fed the people real bread (Jn 6:1-14). He then offered real, eternal life to those who believed in him. And then he offered his real flesh as food and his real blood as drink. Natural food, of course, sustains natural life. And the manna, although given in a miraculous manner, was still natural food for natural life. But the new manna, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, is supernatural food given for supernatural life. This new manna, the Eucharist, is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (CCC 1324). It is, as Paul wrote the Corinthians, participation in the blood and body of Christ.
It is, for me, no longer bothersome, but still stunning.
(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the May 25, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor.)
Related Articles on Ignatius Insight:
• The Eucharist and the Rule of Christ | Fr. James T O'Connor
• Benedict and the Eucharist: On the Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis | Carl E. Olson
• Abbot Vonier and the Christian Sacrifice | Aidan Nichols, O.P.
• The Meaning and Purpose of the Year of the Eucharist | Carl E. Olson
• The Doctrine (and the Defense) of the Eucharist | Carl E. Olson
• The Eucharist: Source and Summit of Christian Spirituality | Mark Brumley
• The Sacraments | Peter Kreeft


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Any registered voter.
Show All Answers
A way of voting if you are unable to get to your polling place on election day.
To apply for an absentee ballot, follow these simple steps:
All registered voters in Michigan can now vote before Election Day using what's called an absentee ballot. You don't need an excuse or a reason. You can vote by absentee ballot through the mail, without leaving your home. Use the online form to apply or contact your local city or township clerk. You can also go to your city or township clerk's office or drop box to return your absentee ballot.


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March 2011
Services Plan
Each parentally placed private school child with a disability who has been designated to receive special education and/or related services must have a services plan. The services plan describes the specific special education and/or related services that the LEA will provide to the child. The LEA must ensure that a representative of the private school attends each meeting to develop the services plan. If the private school representative cannot attend, the LEA must use other methods to ensure participation, including individual or conference telephone calls. This will help ensure communication about the child's needs among key stakeholders.
A services plan should reflect only the services the LEA will provide to a parentally placed private school child with a disability who is designated to receive services. It must, to the extent appropriate, meet the applicable individualized education program (IEP) content requirements. The services plan also must, to the extent appropriate, be developed, reviewed, and revised consistent with the requirements related to the IEP team, parent participation, and when IEPs must be in effect, as specified in the final Part B regulations.


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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Holes - Louis Sachar
I get the feeling that Kate Barlow, even as an outlaw, wasn't really wicked so much as desperate, although she killed quite a few men when robbing them of their worldly goods. She fell in love with Sam the onion seller, and because he was black, he was killed for kissing a white woman. I get the impression that Kate was half-crazy with love and grief when she turned outlaw, and that she turned outlaw largely because the Sheriff of Green Lake wouldn't help her when the townspeople set fire to the school.
The Warden, Ms Walker, is the descendant of Charles "Trout" Walker, the man who wanted to marry Kate Barlow and was turned down. The Walkers apparently handed their grudge against Kate Barlow on to their descendants, much as Stanley's family curse was handed on to the descendants of Elya Yelnats, the "no-good-dirt-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather", the man who forgot to carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain. It could be argued that Ms Walker is not really wicked either, just resentful and frustrated, but I'm not convinced. Someone who takes pleasure in wearing nail polish laced with rattlesnake venom, and who destroys Zero's files after he runs away from the Camp, so that no one will know he was there, is definitely in the "wicked women" category.
So how many other Wicked Women, who aren't Witches or Fairies, are there in children's literature ? I'd be interested to know.
21 comments:
- Krista said...
I've been lurking for a bit and thought it was time I commented.
The first thought that came to my mind is of Miss Scratchard in Jane Eyre, but I then remembered that you were looking for wicked women from children's books. Alas, but the only other woman who came to mind was Aunt Tribulation in Joan Aiken's Nighbirds on Nantucket. - 12:37 am BST
- Michele said...
Actually I don't see why we shouldn't go with Jane Eyre - plenty of teens have to read it for their English exams here in the UK. And whilst we're on the subject of JE - how wicked is Aunt Reed, would you say ?
As for "Aunt Tribulation", it is of course, worth pointing out that the woman who gave Dido and Pen so much trouble wasn't Pen's real aunt ! But I'd agree with you on her inclusion in the list of wicked women. I read Nightbirds on Nantucket only a few weeks ago, but I'd forgotten the false Aunt Trib.
(Thanks for delurking !) - 5:29 am BST
- Little Willow said...
Hi there! Have you read Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn? I don't want to give anything away, but there's a wicked stepmother...
- 5:56 am BST
Joan Aiken has lots of Wicked Women (though matched by plenty of
Malevolent Men) - wait till you get to The Stolen Lake! Dahl could contribute a few, maybe? (Don't like him so don't read him.) And - oh, senior moment - there's a possible in the Bartimeus books, isn't there?
I agree about Aunt Reed, who's cruel and unjust, but maybe not wicked
in the way you're thinking. There are probably a fair few relatives
like her (or less extreme) in children's lit.
It's an interesting question... - 8:47 am BST
Miss Minchin in A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
The Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. - 1:53 pm BST
- Mrs. Coulter said...
Oooh oooh ooooh!
Mrs. Coulter! Even though she gets redeemed in the end. - 2:27 pm BST
- Michele said...
Thanks for the suggestions so far !
"Mrs Coulter", I wondered whether you would suggest your namesake or whether you thought her redemption saved her - clearly not !
Little Willow, I've not read the book (nor even heard of it before).
Hallie, I hadn't really thought too much about how I was defining "wicked women", except not the usual wicked witches or fairies of such tales as "Sleeping Beauty"...
Heather, I should have remembered Miss Minchin ! I'm ashamed of myself ! - 5:38 pm BST
- Camille said...
I would like to include the cruel, mean, odious, vile grandmother from Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm. What a nasty piece of work, she is!
- 5:42 pm BST
Well, as you're not discounting all supernatural wicked women - Laurel in Fire and Hemlock might be included. And - odd, I've just realised that Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence has two wicked women who seem lovely, one in Over Sea, Under Stone and one in Silver on the Tree. I won't give their names until I'm sure you've read the books, as their wickedness is such a surprise.
Although thinking about Laurel again, in another way she's acting within her own rules, like Death of a Ghost's Sulis, and not really wicked at all. - 11:06 pm BST
I suspect candidates will come to me at odd intervals for some time now! I just thought of one perfect wicked woman - in Eva Ibbotson's The Star of Kazan. This is one of Ibbotson's non-fantastic children's books, and when I read it I was struck by how it seemed to have things (impostors and other terrible villains, dreadful boarding schools, etc.) which are usually only in old children's books (like The Little Princess, for example) or modern children's fantasy. She pulls it off very well in The Star of Kazan, I think.
- 4:34 pm BST
- Michele said...
Thanks Camille amd Hallie.
I have to say Hallie, that I don't agree with you over Laurel - I think she's a vile woman !
I've read the Susan Cooper books - but I'm scraping the barrel on the names ! I know one of the women you mention must be the wife of John (?), the man who is then made to forget about his wife - but who is the other woman ??
Interestingly, I didn't consider Sulis (in Death of a Ghost to be wicked - but then she is a goddess !!
Don't forget everyone, this is the Spoiler Zone so naming names or giving details is acceptable... - 4:49 pm BST
Don't get me wrong about Laurel - I think she's vile too! I only meant that as she's the Queen of Faerie, thinking about it one way she's hard to hold to the normal rules of human behaviour, as is Sulis. Though I once had an interesting argument with someone who had a kind of sneaky liking for Laurel but hated the Lady in The Perilous Gard, because she thought Laurel had reason to be superior (being the Queen), while the Lady didn't. I didn't (and still don't) agree at all.
You're right, I was thinking of Blodwen (John Rowland's wife - names thanks to my copy of Four British Fantasists rather than my memory!), and the other one is Mrs Palk, the sort of house-keeper/cook, whose niceness is of a very cozy, grandmotherly sort (apparently). - 6:00 pm BST
- Michele said...
Hallie, you're really getting into this, aren't you ? (I'm not complaining though !)
I see what you mean about Laurel...
At least I remembered John's first name, even if I couldn't remember his surname or his wife's... And I don't remember Mrs Palk at all ! (Time for a re-read, perhaps ?) - 7:42 pm BST
- Mrs. Coulter said...
Yes, she does get redeemed in the end, and I think that her redemption is very meaningful (that salvation is available to even the worst through an act of selfless love).
However, up to the point of her redemption, man is she ever EVIL. Wow. So, yes, I think she counts as wicked. - 9:07 pm BST
- Michele said...
I quite agree with you about Mrs Coulter - her behaviour is appalling and I hated her for a long time whilst reading the "His Dark Materials" trilogy for the first time.
OK, I'm going to take everyone's suggestions and post a list in a new Blog message, and see what other suggestions I get. Thanks for all your contributions. - 6:56 am BST
- Michele said...
I'm currently reading Lloyd Alexander's "The Chronicles of Prydain", so I can now add Achren to the list; and I remembered Charles Butler's "Mrs Mumm" in The Fetch of Mardy Watt too !
- 7:08 pm BST
I would have to go with Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. She was quite evil! Miss Minchin, too. There's something about school headmistresses, I guess. I'm apparently not very creative today, because I can't think of anyone else not already mentioned.
- 9:34 pm BST
This is fun! May I join? I suggest Deerskin's mother (Deerskin, Robin McKinley), Aunt Maria (DWJ), and Gwendolyn Chant (DWJ)... so far :)
- 1:45 am BST
- Michele said...
Thanks Debbie, I don't know any of these characters.
Jen, I'd forgotten Mrs Trunchbull - though how I could have forgotten her, I can't imagine. - 5:55 am BST
- Krista said...
I'm finally back with one more. :-)
Esme Squalor from Lemony Snicket!
And I do think that Aunt Reed in Jane Eyre would qualify as "wicked," in her own little way. - 5:32 pm BST
- Michele said...
Thanks for coming back again Krista - and for the new suggestion.
- 6:22 pm BST


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The category "Healing" has 5 subcategories.
2.3 Questioner: We are very interested in the entire story that you have to tell and in getting into the Law of One in quite some detail. There will be several questions that I'll ask as we go along that may or may not be related directly to understanding the Law of One. However, I believe that the proper way of presenting this as a teach/learning vehicle to the population of the planet that will read it at this time is to investigate different facets of what you tell us. You spoke of crystal healing. (One other thing I might mention is that when the instrument becomes fatigued we want to cut off communication and resume it at a later time after the instrument is recharged.) And if the instrument is suitable at this time I would like a little discussion of the crystal healing that you mentioned.
Ra: I am Ra. The principle of crystal healing is based upon an understanding of the hierarchical nature of the structure of the illusion which is the physical body, as you would call it. There are crystals which work upon the energies coming into the spiritual body; there are crystals which work upon the distortions from spirit to mind; there are crystals which balance the distortions between the mind and the body. All of these crystal healings are charged through purified channels. Without the relative crystallization of the healer working with the crystal, the crystal will not be properly charged. The other ingredient is a proper alignment with the energy fields of the planet upon which you dwell and the holistic or cosmic distortions or streamings which enter the planetary aura in such a manner that an appropriate ratio of shapes and placement within these shapes is of indicated aid in the untangling or balancing process.
To go through the various crystals to be used would be exhaustive to this instrument, although you may ask us if you wish in another session. The delicacy, shall we say, of the choosing of the crystal is very critical and, in truth, a crystalline structure such as a diamond or ruby can be used by a purified channel who is filled with the love/light of One in almost any application.
This, of course, takes initiation, and there have never been many to persevere to the extent of progressing through the various distortion leavings which initiation causes.
May we further inform you in any fairly brief way upon this or another subject?
4.8 Questioner: My question then would be, are there individuals incarnate upon the planet today who would have the necessary inner disciplines to, using your instructions, construct and initiate in a pyramid they built and then possibly do it again? Is this within limits of what anyone can do on the planet today, or is there no one available for this?
Ra: I am Ra. There are people, as you call them, who are able to take this calling at this nexus. However, we wish to point out once again that the time of the pyramids, as you would call it, is past. It is indeed a timeless structure. However, the streamings from the universe were, at the time we attempted to aid this planet, those which required a certain understanding of purity. This understanding has, as the streamings revolve and all things evolve, changed to a more enlightened view of purity. Thus, there are those among your people at this time whose purity is already one with intelligent infinity. Without the use of structures, healer/patient can gain healing.
May we further speak to some specific point?
4.9 Questioner: Is it possible for you to instruct healing techniques if we could make available these individuals that have the native ability?
Ra: I am Ra. It is possible. We must add that many systems of teach/learning the healing/patient nexus are proper given various mind/body/spirit complexes. We ask your imagination to consider the relative simplicity of the mind in the earlier cycle and the less distorted, but often overly complex, views and thought/spirit processes of the same mind/body/spirit complexes after many incarnations. We also ask your imagination to conceive of those who have chosen the distortion of service and have removed their mind/body/spirit complexes from one dimension to another, thus bringing with them in sometimes totally latent form many skills and understandings which more closely match the distortions of the healing/patient processes.
4.10 Questioner: [I would] very much like to continue investigation into the possibility of this healing process, but I'm a little lost as to where to begin. Can you tell me what my first step would be?
Ra: I am Ra. I cannot tell you what to ask. I may suggest that you consider the somewhat complex information just given and thus discover several avenues of inquiry. There is one "health," as you call it, in your polarized environment, but there are several significantly various distortions of types of mind/body/spirit complexes. Each type must pursue its own learn/teaching in this area.
4.11 Questioner: [I] would assume that the first step would be to find an individual with ability brought with him into this incarnation? Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct.
4.12 Questioner: Once I have selected an individual to perform healing, it would be helpful to receive instruction from you. Is this possible?
Ra: I am Ra. This is possible given the distortions of vibratory sound complexes.
4.13 Questioner: I'm assuming, then, that the selected individual would necessarily be one who was very much in harmony with the Law of One. Though he may not have any intellectual understanding of it, he should be living the Law of One. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is both correct and incorrect. The first case, that being correctness, would apply to one such as the questioner itself who has the distortion towards healing, as you call it.
The incorrectness which shall be observed is the healing of those whose activities in your space/time illusion do not reflect the Law of One, but whose ability has found its pathway to intelligent infinity regardless of the plane of existence from which this distortion is found.
4.14 Questioner: [Aside: Jim, did you understand?] I'm a little confused. I partially understood you; I'm not sure that I fully understood you. Could you restate that in another way?
Ra: I can restate that in many ways, given this instrument's knowledge of your vibratory sound complexes. I will strive for a shorter distortion at this time.
Two kinds there are who can heal: those such as yourself who, having the innate distortion towards knowledge-giving of the Law of One, can heal but do not; and those who, having the same knowledge, but showing no significant distortion consciously towards the Law of One in mind, body, or spirit, yet and nevertheless have opened a channel to the same ability.
The point being that there are those who, without proper training, shall we say, nevertheless, heal. It is a further item of interest that those whose life does not equal their work may find some difficulty in absorbing the energy of intelligent infinity and thus become quite distorted in such a way as to cause disharmony in themselves and others and perhaps even find it necessary to cease the healing activity. Therefore, those of the first type, those who seek to serve and are willing to be trained in thought, word, and action are those who will be able to comfortably maintain the distortion towards service in the area of healing.
4.15 Questioner: Then would it [be] possible for you to train us in healing practice?
Ra: I am Ra. It is possible.
4.16 Questioner: Will you train us?
Ra: We will.
4.17 Questioner: I have no idea of how long this would take or if you can even tell anything about that. Is it possible for you to give me a synopsis of the program of training required? I have no knowledge of what questions to ask at this point. I'll ask that question in the hopes that it makes sense.
Ra: I am Ra. We consider your request for information, for as you noted, there are a significant number of vibratory sound complexes which can be used in sequence to train the healer.
The synopsis is a very appropriate entry that you might understand what is involved.
Firstly, the mind must be known to itself. This is perhaps the most demanding part of healing work. If the mind knows itself then the most important aspect of healing has occurred, for consciousness is the microcosm of the Law of One.
The second part has to do with the disciplines of the body complexes. In the streamings reaching your planet at this time, these understandings and disciplines have to do with the balance between love and wisdom in the use of the body in its natural functions.
The third area is the spiritual, and in this area the first two disciplines are connected through the attainment of contact with intelligent infinity.
4.18 Questioner: I believe I have some idea of the accomplishment— a little idea, anyway, of the accomplishment— [of the] first step. Can you elaborate the steps… the other two steps I am not at all familiar with.
Ra: I am Ra. Imagine the body. Imagine the more dense aspects of the body. Proceed therefrom to the very finest knowledge of energy pathways which revolve and cause the body to be energized. Understand that all natural functions of the body have all aspects from dense to fine, and can be transmuted to what you may call sacramental. This is a brief investigation of the second area.
To speak to the third: imagine, if you will, the function of the magnet. The magnet has two poles. One reaches up. The other goes down. The function of the spirit is to integrate the upreaching yearning of the mind/body energy with the downpouring and streaming of infinite intelligence. This is a brief explication of the third area.
4.19 Questioner: Then would this training program involve specific things to do, specific instructions and exercises?
Ra: I am Ra. We are not at this time incarnate among your peoples; thus, we can guide and attempt to specify, but cannot, by example, show. This is an handicap. However, there should indeed be fairly specific exercises of mind, body, and spirit during the teach/learning process we offer. It is to be once again iterated that healing is but one distortion of the Law of One. To reach an undistorted understanding of that law, it is not necessary to heal or, indeed, to show any manifestation but only to exercise the disciplines of understanding.
We would ask that one or two more questions be the ending of this session.
4.20 Questioner: My objective is primarily to discover more of the Law of One, and [it would] be very helpful to discover techniques of healing. I am aware of your problem with respect to free will. Can you make… You cannot make suggestions, so I will ask you if you can state the Law of One and the laws of healing to me?
Ra: I am Ra. The Law of One, though beyond the limitations of name, as you call vibratory sound complexes, may be approximated by stating that all things are one, that there is no polarity, no right or wrong, no disharmony, but only identity. All is one, and that one is love/light, light/love, the Infinite Creator.
One of the primal distortions of the Law of One is that of healing. Healing occurs when a mind/body/spirit complex realizes, deep within itself, the Law of One; that is, that there is no disharmony, no imperfection; that all is complete and whole and perfect. Thus, the intelligent infinity within this mind/body/spirit complex re-forms the illusion of body, mind, or spirit to a form congruent with the Law of One. The healer acts as energizer or catalyst for this completely individual process.
One item which may be of interest is that a healer asking to learn must take the distortion understood as responsibility for that ask/receiving, thus healing. This is a[n] honor/duty which must be carefully considered in free will before the asking.
5.1 Questioner: The last time we communicated we were speaking of learning of healing. It is my impression that from what you gave to us in the earlier session that it is necessary to first purify the self by certain disciplines and exercises. Then in order to heal a patient, it is necessary, by example, and possibly certain exercises, to create a mental configuration in the patient that allows him to heal himself. Am I correct?
Ra: I am Ra. Although your learn/understanding distortion is essentially correct, your choice of vibratory sound complex is not entirely as accurate as this language allows.
It is not by example that the healer does the working. The working exists in and of itself. The healer is only the catalyst, much as this instrument has the catalysis necessary to provide the channel for our words, yet by example or exercise of any kind can take no thought for this working.
The healing working is congruent in that it is a form of channeling some distortion of the intelligent infinity.
5.2 Questioner: We have decided to accept, if offered, the honor/duty of learning/teaching the healing process. I would ask as to the first step which we should accomplish in becoming effective healers.
Ra: I am Ra. We shall begin with the first of the three teachings/learnings.
We begin with the mental learn/teachings necessary for contact with intelligent infinity. The prerequisite of mental work is the ability to retain silence of self at a steady state when required by the self. The mind must be opened like a door. The key is silence.
Within the door lies an hierarchical construction you may liken unto geography and in some ways geometry, for the hierarchy is quite regular, bearing inner relationships.
To begin to master the concept of mental discipline it is necessary to examine the self. The polarity of your dimension must be internalized. Where you find patience within your mind you must consciously find the corresponding impatience and vice versa. Each thought that a being has, has in its turn an antithesis. The disciplines of the mind involve, first of all, identifying both those things of which you approve and those things of which you disapprove within yourself, and then balancing each and every positive and negative charge with its equal. The mind contains all things. Therefore, you must discover this completeness within yourself.
The second mental discipline is acceptance of the completeness within your consciousness. It is not for a being of polarity in the physical consciousness to pick and choose among attributes, thus building the roles that cause blockages and confusions in the already-distorted mind complex. Each acceptance smoothes part of the many distortions that the faculty you call judgment engenders.
The third discipline of the mind is a repetition of the first but with the gaze outward towards the fellow entities that it meets. In each entity there exists completeness. Thus, the ability to understand each balance is necessary. When you view patience, you are responsible for mirroring in your mental understanding, patience/impatience. When you view impatience, it is necessary for your mental configuration of understanding to be impatience/patience. We use this as a simple example. Most configurations of mind have many facets, and understanding of either self polarities, or what you would call other-self polarities, can and must be understood as subtle work.
The next step is the acceptance of the other-self polarities, which mirrors the second step.
These are the first four steps of learning mental discipline. The fifth step involves observing the geographical and geometrical relationships and ratios of the mind, the other mind, the mass mind, and the infinite mind.
The second area of learn/teaching is the study/understanding of the body complexes. It is necessary to know your body well. This is a matter of using the mind to examine how the feelings, the biases, what you would call the emotions, affect various portions of the body complex. It shall be necessary to both understand the bodily polarities and to accept them, repeating in a chemical/physical manifestation the work you have done upon the mind bethinking the consciousness.
The body is a creature of the mind's creation. It has its biases. The biological bias must be first completely understood and then the opposite bias allowed to find full expression in understanding. Again, the process of acceptance of the body as a balanced, as well as polarized, individual may then be accomplished.
It is then the task to extend this understanding to the bodies of the other-selves whom you will meet. The simplest example of this is the understanding that each biological male is female; each biological female is male. This is a simple example. However, in almost every case wherein you are attempting the understanding of the body of self or other-self, you will again find that the most subtle discernment is necessary in order to fully grasp the polarity complexes involved.
At this time we would suggest closing the description until the next time of work so that we may devote time to the third area commensurate with its importance.
We can answer a query if it is a short one before we leave this instrument.
6.1 Questioner: We would like to continue the material from yesterday. We had to cease before [inaudible].
Ra: I am Ra. This is well with us.
We proceed now with the third area of teach/learning concerning the development of the energy powers of healing.
The third area is the spiritual complex which embodies the fields of force and consciousness which are the least distorted of your mind/body/spirit complex. The exploration and balancing of the spirit complex is indeed the longest and most subtle part of your learn/teaching. We have considered the mind as a tree. The mind controls the body. With the mind single-pointed, balanced, and aware, the body comfortable in whatever biases and distortions make it appropriately balanced for that instrument, the instrument is then ready to proceed with the great work.
That is the work of wind and fire. The spiritual body energy field is a pathway, or channel. When body and mind are receptive and open, then the spirit can become a functioning shuttle or communicator from the entity's individual energy of will upwards, and from the streamings of the creative fire and wind downwards.
The healing ability, like all other, what this instrument would call paranormal abilities, is effected by the opening of a pathway or shuttle into intelligent infinity. There are many upon your plane who have a random hole or gateway in their spirit energy field, sometimes created by the ingestion of chemicals such as, what this instrument would call LSD, who are able, randomly and without control, to tap into energy sources. They may or may not be entities who wish to serve. The purpose of carefully and consciously opening this channel is to serve in a more dependable way, in a more commonplace or usual way, as seen by the distortion complex of the healer. To others there may appear to be miracles. To the one who has carefully opened the door to intelligent infinity this is ordinary; this is commonplace; this is as it should be. The life experience becomes somewhat transformed and the great work goes on.
At this time we feel these exercises suffice for your beginning. We will, at a future time, when you feel you have accomplished that which is set before you, begin to guide you into a more precise understanding of the functions and uses of this gateway in the experience of healing.
9.3 Questioner: The healing exercises that you gave to us are [of] such a nature that it is best to concentrate on [a] particular exercise at a time. I would like to ask at this time what exercise I should concentrate on… possibly a little exercise change… should concentrate on [inaudible], say tonight?
Ra: I am Ra. Again, to direct your judgment is an intrusion upon your space/time continuum distortion called future. To speak of past or present within our distortion/judgment limits is acceptable. To guide rather than teach/learn is not acceptable to our distortion in regards to teach/learning. We, instead, can suggest a process whereby each chooses the first of the exercises given in the order in which we gave them, which you, in your discernment, feel is not fully appreciated by your mind/body/spirit complex.
This is the proper choice, building from the foundation, making sure the ground is good for the building. We have assessed for you the intensity of this effort in terms of energy expended. You will take this in mind and be patient for we have not given a short or easy program of consciousness learn/teaching.
12.31 Questioner: Is there a best way for these entities to heal themselves of their physical ailments?
Ra: I am Ra. This will be the last complete question of this time/space.
The self-healing distortion is effected through realization of the intelligent infinity resting within. This is blocked in some way in those who are not perfectly balanced in bodily complexes. The blockage varies from entity to entity. It requires the conscious awareness of the spiritual nature of reality, if you will, and the corresponding pourings of this reality into the individual mind/body/spirit complex for healing to take place.
We will use this instrument as example. The portions of its ailment, as you call this distortion complex, that can be perfected in balance are due primarily to a blockage of the indigo-ray or pineal energy center. This center receives the intelligent energy from all sources lawful within the one Creation; that is, lawful in this third-density distortion or illusion. If there is no blockage, these energies pour or stream down into the mind/body/spirit complex perfecting moment by moment the individual's body complex.
This instrument also experiences some distortion of the green-ray energy center which you may call the heart center. It is overly open due to an intensive desire distortion on the part of this mind/body/spirit complex towards service to others, or as you may call it, universal love. This entity, therefore, spends itself without regard to its reserves of mind/body/spirit complex distortion in regard to what you call strength or energy. This distortion is primarily due to the blockage of the indigo ray. As we have said before, the misapprehension distortion of the instrument responsible for this blockage is the basic orientation towards a belief in unworthiness. The unworthiness distortion blocks the free flow of intelligent energy.
The seventh or violet ray is unimpaired, this being not only an energy receptor but a sum total of the vibratory level of the individual. The other energy centers are also quite clear. The solution to healing in this case is action that puts into practice the peaceful understanding in humility distortion that the entity is one with the Creator, therefore perfected and not separate. In each case of what you would call ill health one or more of these energy centers is blocked. The intelligence of the mind/body/spirit complex needs then to be alerted either by the self as healer or by the catalyst of another healer, as we have said before.
Is there a short question before we close this session?
17.18 Questioner: Then if the entity Jesus was fourth density and there are Wanderers on the planet today who came from fifth and sixth density, what was it that Jesus did that enabled him to be such a good healer and could these fifth- and sixth-density beings here today do the same?
Ra: I am Ra. Those who heal may be of any density which has the consciousness of the spirit. This includes third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. The third density can be one in which healing takes place just as the others. However, there is more illusory material to understand, to balance, to accept, and to move forward from.
The gate to intelligent infinity can only be opened when an understanding of the instreamings of intelligent energy are opened unto the healer. These are the so-called Natural Laws of your local space/time continuum and its web of electromagnetic sources or nexi of instreaming energy.
Know then, first, the mind and the body. Then as the spirit is integrated and synthesized, those are harmonized into a mind/body/spirit complex which can move among the dimensions and which can open the gateway to intelligent infinity, thus healing self by light and sharing that light with others.
True healing is simply the radiance of the self causing an environment in which a catalyst may occur which initiates the recognition of self, by self, of the self-healing properties of the self.
23.7 Questioner: When you spoke of pyramid healing, I am assuming that the primary healing was for the mind. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is partially correct. The healing, if it is to be effectuated, must be a funneling without significant distortion of the instreamings through the spiritual complex into the tree of mind. There are parts of this mind which block energies flowing to the body complex. In each case, in each entity, the blockage may well differ.
First, however, it is necessary to activate the sense of the spiritual channel or shuttle. Then whether the blockage is from spiritual to mental or from mental to physical, or whether it may simply be a random and purely physical trauma, healing may then be carried out.
40.12 Questioner: You mentioned that thoughts of anger now are causing cancer. Can you expand on this mechanism as it acts as a catalyst or its complete purpose?
Ra: I am Ra. The fourth density is one of revealed information. Selves are not hidden to self or other-selves. The imbalances or distortions which are of a destructive nature show, therefore, in more obvious ways, the vehicle of the mind/body/spirit complex thus acting as a teaching resource for self revelation. These illnesses such as cancer are correspondingly very amenable to self-healing once the mechanism of the destructive influence has been grasped by the individual.
40.13 Questioner: Then you are saying that cancer is quite easily healed mentally and is a good teaching tool because it is quite easily healed mentally and once the entity forgives the other-self at whom he is angry cancer will disappear. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is partially correct. The other portion of healing has to do with forgiveness of self and a greatly heightened respect for the self. This may conveniently be expressed by taking care in dietary matters. This is quite frequently a part of the healing and forgiving process. Your basic premise is correct.
40.14 Questioner: In dietary matters, what would be the foods that one would include and what would be the foods that one would exclude in a general way for the most or the greatest care of one's bodily complex?
Ra: I am Ra. Firstly, we underline and emphasize that this information is not to be understood literally but as a link or psychological nudge for the body and the mind and spirit. Thus it is the care and respect for the self that is the true thing of importance. In this light we may iterate the basic information given for this instrument's diet. The vegetables, the fruits, the grains, and to the extent necessary for the individual metabolism, the animal products. These are those substances showing respect for the self. In addition, though this has not been mentioned, for this instrument is not in need of purification, those entities in need of purging the self of a poison thought-form or emotion complex do well to take care in following a program of careful fasting until the destructive thought-form has been purged analogously with the by-products of ridding the physical vehicle of excess material. Again you see the value not to the body complex but used as a link for the mind and spirit. Thus self reveals self to self.
60.31 Questioner: The instrument wished to know, when using the pendulum for discovering energy centers, if the back and forth motion meant anything rather than the circular motion?
Ra: I am Ra. This shall have to be the final question although this entity is still providing us with energy. It is experiencing the distortion towards pain.
The rotations having been discussed, we shall simply say that the weak back and forth motion indicates a partial blockage although not a complete blockage. The strong back and forth motion indicates the reverse of blockage which is over-stimulation of a chakra or energy center which is occurring in order to attempt to balance some difficulty in body or mind complex activity. This condition is not helpful to the entity as it is unbalanced. Are there any brief queries before we leave this instrument?
66.5 Questioner: I would like to investigate the mechanism of healing using the crystallized healer. I am going to make a statement, and I would appreciate it if you would correct my thinking.
It seems to me that once the healer has become properly balanced and unblocked with respect to energy centers, it is possible for him to act in some way as a collector and focuser of light the same way that, or analogous to the way that a pyramid works, taking or collecting light through the left hand and emitting it through the right; this then, somehow, penetrating the first and seventh chakra envelope, vibratory envelope, you might say, of the body and allowing for the realignment of energy centers of the entity to be healed. I'm quite sure that I'm not exactly correct on this and possibly considerably off. Could you rearrange my thinking so that it makes sense?
Ra: I am Ra. You are correct in your assumption that the crystallized healer is analogous to the pyramidal action of the King's Chamber position. There are a few adjustments we might suggest.
Firstly, the energy which is used is brought into the field complex of the healer by the outstretched hand used in a polarized sense. However, this energy circulates through the various points of energy to the base of the spine and, to a certain extent, the feet, thus coming through the main energy centers of the healer spiraling through the feet, turning at the red energy center towards a spiral at the yellow energy center and passing through the green energy center in a microcosm of the King's Chamber energy configuration of prana; this then continuing for the third spiral through the blue energy center and being sent therefrom through the gateway back to intelligent infinity.
It is from the green center that the healing prana moves into the polarized healing right hand and therefrom to the one to be healed.
We may note that there are some who use the yellow-ray configuration to transfer energy and this may be done but the effects are questionable and, with regard to the relationship between the healer, the healing energy, and the seeker, questionable due to the propensity for the seeker to continue requiring such energy transfers without any true healing taking place in the absence of the healer due to the lack of penetration of the armoring shell of which you spoke.
66.8 Questioner: I'm assuming, then, that we have a Wanderer with the desire attempting to learn the techniques of healing while, shall I say, trapped in third density. He then, it seems to me, is primarily concerned with the balancing and unblocking of energy centers. Am I correct in this assumption?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct. Only insofar as the healer has become balanced may it be a channel for the balancing of an other-self. The healing is first practiced upon the self, if we may say this in another way.
66.9 Questioner: Now as the healer approaches an other-self to do the healing we have a situation where the other-self has, through programming of catalyst, possibly created a condition which is viewed as a condition needing healing. What is the situation and what are the ramifications of the healer acting upon a condition of programmed catalyst to bring about healing? Am I correct in assuming that in doing this healing, the programmed catalyst is useful to the one to be healed in that the one to be healed then becomes aware of what it wished to become aware of in programming the catalyst? Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. Your thinking cannot be said to be completely incorrect but shows a rigidity which is not apparent in the flow of the experiential use of catalyst.
The role of the healer is to offer an opportunity for realignment or aid in realignment of either energy centers or some connection between the energies of mind and body, spirit and mind, or spirit and body. This latter is very rare.
The seeker will then have the reciprocal opportunity to accept a novel view of the self, a variant arrangement of patterns of energy influx. If the entity, at any level, desires to remain in the configuration of distortion which seems to need healing it will do so. If, upon the other hand, the seeker chooses the novel configuration, it is done through free will.
This is one great difficulty with other forms of energy transfer in that they do not carry through the process of free will as this process is not native to yellow ray.
66.10 Questioner: What is the difference, philosophically, between a mind/body/spirit complex healing itself through mental, shall I say, configuration or it being healed by an healer?
Ra: I am Ra. You have a misconception. The healer does not heal. The crystallized healer is a channel for intelligent energy which offers an opportunity to an entity that it might heal itself.
In no case is there an other description of healing. Therefore, there is no difference as long as the healer never approaches one whose request for aid has not come to it previously. This is also true of the more conventional healers of your culture and if these healers could but fully realize that they are responsible only for offering the opportunity of healing, and not for the healing, many of these entities would feel an enormous load of misconceived responsibility fall from them.
66.11 Questioner: Then in seeking healing a mind/body/spirit complex would then be seeking in some cases a source of gathered and focused light energy. This source could be another mind/body/spirit complex sufficiently crystallized for this purpose or the pyramid shape, or possibly something else. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. These are some of the ways an entity may seek healing. Yes.
66.12 Questioner: Could you tell me the other ways that the entity could seek healing?
Ra: I am Ra. Perhaps the greatest healer is within the self and may be tapped with continued meditation as we have suggested.
The many forms of healing available to your peoples each have virtue and may be deemed appropriate by any seeker who wishes to alter the physical complex distortions or some connection between the various portions of the mind/body/spirit complex thereby.
66.13 Questioner: I have observed many activities known as psychic surgery in the area of the Philippine Islands. It was my assumption that these healers are providing what I would call a training aid or a way of creating a reconfiguration of the mind of the patient to be healed as the relatively naïve patient observes the action of the healer in seeing the materialized blood, etc., then reconfigures the roots of mind to believe, you might say, the healing is done and, therefore, heals himself. Is this analysis that I made correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct. We may speak slightly further upon this type of opportunity.
There are times when the malcondition to be altered is without emotional, mental, or spiritual interest to the entity and is merely that which has, perhaps by chance genetic arrangement, occurred. In these cases that which is apparently dematerialized will remain dematerialized and may be observed as so by any observer. The malcondition which has an emotional, mental, or spiritual charge is likely not to remain dematerialized in the sense of the showing of the objective referent to an observer. However, if the opportunity has been taken by the seeker the apparent malcondition of the physical complex will be at variance with the actual health, as you call this distortion, of the seeker and the lack of experiencing the distortions which the objective referent would suggest still held sway.
For instance, in this instrument the removal of three small cysts was the removal of material having no interest to the entity. Thus these growths remained dematerialized after the so-called psychic surgery experience. In other psychic surgery the kidneys of this instrument were carefully offered a new configuration of beingness which the entity embraced. However, this particular portion of the mind/body/spirit complex carried a great deal of emotional, mental, and spiritual charge due to this distorted functioning being the cause of great illness in a certain configuration of events which culminated in this entity's conscious decision to be of service. Therefore, any objective scanning of this entity's renal complex would indicate the rather extreme dysfunctional aspect which it showed previous to the psychic surgery experience, as you call it.
The key is not in the continuation of the dematerialization of distortion to the eye of the beholder but rather lies in the choosing of the newly materialized configuration which exists in time/space.
66.14 Questioner: Would you explain that last comment about the configuration in time/space?
Ra: I am Ra. Healing is done in the time/space portion of the mind/body/spirit complex, is adopted by the form-making or etheric body, and is then given to the space/time physical illusion for use in the activated yellow-ray mind/body/spirit complex. It is the adoption of the configuration which you call health by the etheric body in time/space which is the key to what you call health, not any event which occurs in space/time. In this process you may see the transdimensional aspect of what you call will, for it is the will, the seeking, the desire of the entity which causes the indigo body to use the novel configuration and to reform the body which exists in space/time. This is done in an instant and may be said to operate without regard to time. We may note that in the healing of very young children there is often an apparent healing by the healer in which the young entity has no part. This is never so, for the mind/body/spirit complex in time/space is always capable of willing the distortions it chooses for experience no matter what the apparent age, as you call it, of the entity.
66.15 Questioner: Is this desire and will that operates through to the time/space section a function only of the entity who is healed or is it also the function of the healer, the crystallized healer?
Ra: I am Ra. May we take this opportunity to say that this is the activity of the Creator. To specifically answer your query the crystallized healer has no will. It offers an opportunity without attachment to the outcome, for it is aware that all is one and that the Creator is knowing Itself.
66.16 Questioner: Then the desire must be strong within the mind/body/spirit complex who seeks healing to be healed in order for the healing to occur? Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct on one level or another. An entity may not consciously seek healing and yet subconsciously be aware of the need to experience the new set of distortions which result from healing. Similarly an entity may consciously desire healing greatly but within the being, at some level, find some cause whereby certain configurations which seem quite distorted are, in fact, at that level, considered appropriate.
66.17 Questioner: I assume that the reason for assuming the distortions appropriate would be that these distortions would aid the entity in its reaching its ultimate objective which is a movement along the path of evolution in the desired polarity. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct.
73.17 Questioner: In the exercise of the fire then, I assume that the healer would be working with the same energy that we spoke of as entering through the crown chakra. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct with some additional notation necessary for your thought in continuing this line of study. When the magical personality has been seated in the green-ray energy center for healing work the energy then may be seen to be the crystalline center through which body energy is channeled. Thus this particular form of healing uses both the energy of the adept and the energy of the upward spiraling light. As the green-ray center becomes more brilliant, and we would note this brilliance does not imply over-activation but rather crystallization, the energy of the green-ray center of the body complex spirals twice; firstly, clockwise from the green-ray energy center to the right shoulder, through the head, the right elbow, down through the solar plexus, and to the left hand. This sweeps all the body complex energy into a channel which then rotates the great circle clockwise again from right — we correct this instrument — from the left to the feet, to the right hand, to the crown, to the left hand, and so forth.
Thus the in-coming body energy, crystallized, regularized, and channeled by the adept's personality reaching to the green-ray energy center, may then pour out the combined energies of the adept which is incarnate thus offering the service of healing to an entity requesting that service. This basic situation is accomplished as well when there is an entity which is working through a channel to heal.
73.18 Questioner: Could you tell me how this transfer of light, I believe it would be, would affect the patient to be healed?
Ra: I am Ra. The effect is that of polarization. The entity may or may not accept any percentage of this polarized life-energy which is being offered. In the occasion of the laying on of hands this energy is more specifically channeled and the opportunity for acceptance of this energy similarly more specific.
It may be seen that the King's Chamber effect is not attempted in this form of working but rather the addition to one, whose energies are low, the opportunity for the building up of those energies. Many of your distortions called illnesses may be aided by such means.
73.19 Questioner: I'll make a general statement which you can correct. The way I see the overall picture of healer and patient is that the one to be healed has, because of a blockage in one of the energy centers or more, but we will just consider one particular problem… Because of this energy center blockage the upward spiraling light that creates one of the seven bodies has been blocked from the maintenance of that body, and this has resulted in a distortion from the perfection of that body that we call disease or a bodily anomaly which is other than perfect. The healer, having suitably configured its energy centers, is able to channel light, the downward pouring light, through its properly configured energy situation to the one to be healed. If the one to be healed has the mental configuration of acceptance of this light, the light then enters [the] physical complex and re-configures the distortion that was created by the original blockage. I am sure that I have made some mistakes in that. Would you please correct them?
Ra: I am Ra. Your mistakes were small. We would not, at this time, attempt a great deal of refinement of that statement as there is preliminary material which will undoubtedly come forward. We may say that there are various forms of healing. In many, only the energy of the adept is used. In the exercise of fire some physical complex energy is also channeled.
We might note further that when the one wishing to be healed, though sincere, remains unhealed, as you call this distortion, you may consider pre-incarnative choices and your more helpful aid to such an entity may be the suggestion that it meditate upon the affirmative uses of whatever limitations it might experience. We would also note that in these cases the indigo-ray workings are often of aid.
Other than these notes, we do not wish to further comment upon your statement at this working.
75.12 Questioner: I assume that if this can be fully accomplished today that exercise would result in total healing of the distortions of the instrument to such an extent that operations would be unnecessary. Is this correct?
Ra: I am Ra. No.
75.13 Questioner: What else is necessary, the instrument's acceptance?
Ra: I am Ra. This is correct, the case with this instrument being delicate since it must totally accept much which the limitations it now experiences cause to occur involuntarily. This is a pre-incarnative choice.
75.35 Questioner: May anyone in third density accomplish some degree of healing if they have the proper will, desire, and polarity, or is there a minimal balance of the energy centers of the healer that is also necessary?
Ra: I am Ra. Any entity may at any time instantaneously clear and balance its energy centers. Thus in many cases those normally quite blocked, weakened, and distorted may, through love and strength of will, become healers momentarily. To be a healer by nature one must indeed train its self in the disciplines of the personality.
84.6 Questioner: Thank you. The instrument asks if the restricted, unpublishable healing information that was given during the first book be included in Book Four since readers who have gotten that far will be dedicated somewhat?
Ra: I am Ra. This publication of material shall, in time, shall we say, be appropriate. There is intervening material.
102.21 Questioner: Obviously we would very much like to not get to the point of surgery, and the only other alternative that comes to mind other than the diet and the instrument's personal mental work is healing through a healer, and I would like Ra's recommendation with respect to a non-allopathic type healer and any recommendations Ra could make for either Jim or myself to act in that capacity or anyone else Ra could recommend so that we wouldn't have to go through this surgical operation if it seems to become necessary and if we could start working on one of these other approaches right away I think it might be highly recommended. Would Ra comment on that, please?
Ra: I am Ra. We salute the opening of compassion circuitry in the questioner but note that that which is being experienced by this group is being experienced within an healing atmosphere. The healing hands of each have limited use when the distortion has so many metaphysical layers and mixtures. Therefore, look not to a healing but to the joy of companionship, for each is strong and has its feet set upon the way. The moon casts its shadows. What shall you see? Link hands and walk towards the sun. In this instance this is the greatest healing. For the physical vehicle we can suggest far less than you had hoped.
105.2 Questioner: Sorry that we have to ask so many maintenance questions. We seem to be in a confused condition now with respect to our abilities to continue in the direction we wish to with questioning on the archetypical mind.
I feel it necessary to ask what the cause of the symmetrical welts on the instrument's back [is], and is there anything further that we can do to heal the instrument of any conditions, including these welts or their cause?
Ra: I am Ra. The welting is a symptom of that which has been a prolonged psychic greeting. The opportunity for this entity to experience massive allergic reaction from streptococcal and staphylococcal viruses* has been offered in hopes that this entity would wish to leave the incarnation. The previous occurrence of this state of the mind complex occurring upon, in your time-numbering system, the ninth month, the twelfth day, of your present planetary solar revolution caught your fifth-density companion unprepared. The entity is now prepared.
There have been two instances wherein this entity could have started the reaction since the first opportunity was missed. Firstly, the opportunity to separate self from other-self in connection with the choosing of an house. Secondly, the possible vision of self separated from other-self in regard to the dissolving of mundane bonds concerning the leaving of this dwelling. Both opportunities were met by this entity with a refusal to separate self from other-self with further work also upon the indigo-ray level concerning the avoidance of martyrdom while maintaining unity in love.
Thusly, this instrument has had its immunal defenses breached and its lymphatic system involved in the invasion of these viri. You may see some merit in a purging of the instrument's yellow-ray, chemical body in order to more quickly aid the weakened body complex in its attempt to remove these substances. Techniques include therapeutic enemas or colonics, the sauna once or twice in a day, and the use of vigorous rubbing of the integument for the period of approximately seven of your diurnal periods.
We speak not of diet, not because it might not aid, but because this entity ingests small quantities of any substance and is already avoiding certain substances, notably fresh milk and oil.
105.3 Questioner: Is there any particular place the integument should be vigorously rubbed?
Ra: I am Ra. No.
105.4 Questioner: Could you please tell me what caused Jim's kidney problem to return, and what could be done to heal it?
Ra: I am Ra. The entity, Jim, determined that it would cleanse itself and thus would spend time/space and space/time in pursuit and contemplation of perfection. The dedication to this working was intensified until the mind/body/spirit complex rang in harmony with this intention. The entity did not grasp the literal way in which metaphysical intentions are translated by the body complex of one working in utter unity of purpose. The entity began the period of prayer, fasting, penitence, and rejoicing. The body complex, which was not yet fully recovered from the nephrotic syndrome*, began to systematically cleanse each organ, sending all the detritus that was not perfect through kidneys which were not given enough liquid to dilute the toxins being released. The toxins stayed with the body complex and reactivated a purely physical illness. There is no metaphysical portion in this relapse.
The healing is taking place in manifestation of an affirmation of body complex health which, barring untoward circumstance, shall be completely efficacious.
The original Law of One books are copyright ©1982, 1984, 1998 L/L Research. The Ra Contact books are copyright ©2018 L/L Research and Tobey Wheelock.
This site copyright ©2003–2024 Tobey Wheelock.
Questions? Comments? Email me: tw at law of one dot info.


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Lonestar Reunite With Richie McDonald for New Album, 2012 Tour
Good news for Lonestar fans. Next year, the band's original lead singer, Richie McDonald, will return to the group -- best know for hits 'Amazed' and 'I'm Already There' -- to mark 20 years of making music together. In addition to a tour to commemorate their anniversary, Lonestar will also release a brand-new album with vocals by McDonald.
"Well, five years has come and gone since I left Lonestar," McDonald said in a statement after the news broke of him reuniting with his former band. "We've all tried other avenues and the fact remains that some things were just meant to be. With the Lonestar 20 year reunion approaching, [we all] got together and have decided we have some unfinished business to take care of. I miss those crazy nights running around onstage making music with my band of brothers. Looking forward to a new chapter in the book of Lonestar and reliving some old memories, and also making some new ones for the fans that have been loyal to us through thick and thin."
The first portion of the tour will be overseas, where Lonestar will perform in England and Germany, among others countries.
Lonestar took to their Twitter page earlier in the week to give their followers a teaser of their big news, tweeting: "Big news for Lonestar fans coming tomorrow! 2012 marks our 20th anniversary. What would you like to see and hear from us?"
"With 2012 in the near future, we all began thinking of what that meant to us as a band," said Lonestar's Dean Sams. "2012 is a huge landmark for us, marking 20 years of great music and friendship. It was seeing this milestone that began conversations about the legacy of Lonestar. The music we've created over the years, along with all of the fans we have made along the way, is something we have never taken for granted. We have so much more music to offer the country music fans, and truly feel they want us back on the radio and out on the road performing live for them. After a lot of soul searching and long conversations between all of us involved, we are energized and excited to be writing and recording new music together again!"
"I think fans ultimately wondered if this was ever going to happen again, and it always seemed like the original Lonestar as a whole was better than the sum of its parts," added Lonestar's drummer, Keech Rainwater. "With Richie back in the band, fans can enjoy new music and again experience the sound they are used to hearing at our shows. Lonestar has always been very serious about the music we put out. I am excited to see and hear what comes out of this reunion and upcoming album."
Lonestar 2012 Tour Dates (So Far):
2/26 - London, England | Wembley Arena
2/29 - Belfast, Ireland | Odyssey Arena
3/2 - Zurich, Switzerland | Hallenstadion
3/4 - Mannheim, Germany | SAP Arena
Watch the Lonestar 'Amazed' Video


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AIGLX, XGL and me
Accelerated X is a hot topic these days and Free Software Magazine has an article about it.
Surprisingly enough, I would not talk about the accelerated X, but about this particular article: it contains some diagrams in which I recognized a couple of images from my Public Domain clipart collection (also part of Open Clip Art Library).
Those are not something I am proud of, the images were made back when I was learning my way into Inkscape(or probably Sodipodi at the time) but is nice to see them used.


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NASR, MACARIOS, Melkite priest and Basilian of the Holy Saviour; b. 25 Jan. 1831 in Zahleh (Zahlah, Lebanon); d. 6 Sept. 1908 in Toronto.
Macarios Nasr entered the Melkite monastic order of St Basil of the Holy Saviour in his native Syria. He was ordained priest in 1861, and in 1883 he was superior general of the order. The Melkites are Eastern Christians in union with the Holy See and are grouped under their own patriarch, whose title is patriarch of Antioch. The Melkites in Canada came from Syria (including modern Lebanon) in the 1880s and settled mainly in Montreal and Toronto. In the early days most of them were poor, and they possessed a strong sense of identification with their family, village, and religion. Since initially they received little help from Latin-rite bishops in establishing Melkite churches in their new homeland, many were absorbed into Western-rite Roman Catholicism, joined Protestant churches, or abandoned all religious affiliation. Father Nasr, their first pastor in Toronto, was instrumental in building a Syrian Catholic community and preserving the Melkite identity in that city.
While serving as an assistant to the patriarch in Damascus, Father Nasr volunteered for the Canadian mission, and in 1896 he was appointed apostolic missionary to the Syrian Melkites in Toronto and western Ontario. The first official documentation of his presence in Toronto occurs in a letter to Archbishop John Walsh* from the prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, Miecislaus Cardinal Ledóchowsky, dated 19 Feb. 1897. Nasr had submitted a request to Rome, along with a written approbation from Archbishop Walsh, for the power to conduct his ministry among his Toronto compatriots. The request was denied because Father Nasr, as an adherent of an Oriental rite living outside his own diocese, had failed to obtain the necessary prior authorization from Rome. The Melkite residents in Toronto then submitted a petition to Cardinal Ledóchowsky through the apostolic delegate, Monsignor Rafael Merry del Val. In forwarding it, del Val included an expression of concern about the sad condition of Toronto's Syrian population, which was deprived of religious assistance. As a result, the prefect reversed his decision and, acknowledging urgent needs of the Syrian community, gave Archbishop Walsh the power to authorize Father Nasr to exercise his priestly faculties in the diocese. The archbishop's intervention on his behalf with Rome had been precipitated by Father Nasr's appeal on 6 Jan. 1897 for the use of a church or house. For some time he had been saying mass at St Patrick's Church, near the Melkite community around Chestnut Street where he lived, but the pastor had apparently revoked his right to do so on the pretext that the Melkite presence was very costly.
The Melkite community had three difficult years. By the turn of the century, however, Father Nasr had obtained the use of the St Vincent de Paul Hall at 25 Shuter Street, and the Society of St Vincent de Paul had donated money to furnish an altar and other requisites. This positive action cemented the relationship between the Eastern- and Latin-rite Catholics in Toronto. Certainly the presence of the Syrian community had come to be more widely recognized: an article on foreigners in Toronto, written by William Lyon Mackenzie King*, that appeared in the Daily Mail and Empire in October 1897 reported that there were 60 Syrians in the city and that they had their own Catholic priest.
The St Vincent de Paul Hall became the centre of Syrian religious activity and came to be known as the Syrian church. Having asked permission of Archbishop Denis O'Connor* in 1902 to collect funds to build a Melkite church, Father Nasr first had to supply a list of members in Toronto. By that time they numbered 140, including Nasr's mother and a nephew, and another 300 were scattered throughout Ontario. Nasr was certain that any Melkite priest who succeeded him would be able to live on what his parishioners could contribute.
Father Nasr would not see the completion of Toronto's Melkite Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, opened in 1913. He died in September 1908 and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. A Maronite priest was appointed to replace him, but after 119 parishioners petitioned the archbishop to remove him, Father Paul Kattini Malouf, who had come from Montreal to assist Nasr, took charge of the Melkite parish. Thanks in part to the pastoral work of priests such as Father Nasr, there are today about 50,000 Melkites in Canada, making up the Melkite Catholic Eparchy of St Sauveur based in Montreal.
Arch. of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, Clergy files, Nasr to O'Connor, 4 July 1902; OC 20 (Syrian congregation file), Nasr to Walsh, 6 Jan. 1897; WR 80 (Walsh papers, Roman corr.), WRC 8001, WRC 8005. Catholic Register, 10 Sept. 1908. Daily Mail and Empire, 2 Oct. 1897. Baha Abu-Laban, An olive branch on the family tree: the Arabs in Canada (Toronto, 1980). Canadian Catholic Church directory (Montreal), 1986: 253, 542. Canadian Catholic directory and ecclesiastical register (Toronto), 1905. Catholic almanac and clergy list of Ontario (Toronto), 1900, 1920. Sean Gadon, "The Syrian religious experience in Toronto, 1896–1920s," Polyphony (Toronto), 6 (1984), no.1: 65–67. M. W. Nicolson, "The Catholic Church and the Irish in Victorian Toronto" (phd thesis, Univ. of Guelph, Ont., 1981), 242.
© 1994–2024 University of Toronto/Université Laval
Cite This Article
Murray W. Nicolson, "NASR, MACARIOS," in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed February 25, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nasr_macarios_13E.html.
The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:
Permalink: | http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/nasr_macarios_13E.html |
Author of Article: | Murray W. Nicolson |
Title of Article: | NASR, MACARIOS |
Publication Name: | Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 13 |
Publisher: | University of Toronto/Université Laval |
Year of publication: | 1994 |
Year of revision: | 1994 |
Access Date: | February 25, 2024 |


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How to Test Concrete Hardness using a MOHS Scale
Concrete is made up of various elements of different hardness and densities that vary from region to region. Use of these picks is limited to providing a general guide for surface harness.
Steps to testing:
- Start with a pick with a higher number than the surface being tested is believed to be. For beginners, start with pick #9 until more experienced and you have a general feel for the concrete in your area.
- Grasp the pick in the same fashion as you would a pen and place the edge of your palm on the floor as if ready to write.
- Reach forward with the pick and draw a 2" line towards you using the same downward pressure you would use if writing with a pen on paper.
- You will notice the #9 pick will easily produce a scratch. Subsequent picks, will leave less and less of a scratch. Do NOT force any of the picks to scratch.
- Continue down through the scale until you encounter the pick that will not scratch the surface. For example if #5 leaves a scratch but #4 does not, then the floor is about 4.5 on the MOHS scale.
- Sometimes the metal from the pick will lay down and look like a scratch. A magnifying glass will help you to see the scratch or line left by the pick.
- If you are unsure whether the pick left a scratch, lightly drag the pick perpendicular across the first line. If there is a scratch, you will feel the pick drop into the grove.
- Always test in different locations of the floor in order to get a more accurate result. There may be more than one pour present in different areas of the floor, which may give widely varying results
- Be alert for signs of micro-topping, self leveling or filling/patching compounds. Look at different colors, textures or possible edge delamination for clues.
- To increase your knowledge of the aggregates used in your area, do a scratch test on individual stones that are exposed during the grinding, polishing process.
- The picks should always be sharp and in good condition. There is a small stone in the kit that can be used for dressing the tip.
- The picks have extremely sharp points. Care should be used when handling them.
- Never place a loose pick in any pocket or article of clothing.
- It must be remembered that the picks and instructions are only a guide and do NOT cover every possible situation.


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A satellite photo of the Korean peninsula taken at night—North and South—shows the southern half covered in constellations of light. The northern half, by contrast, is entirely, eerily dark. From space, North Korea at night looks more like an uninhabited desert than a 21st-century country of 23 million people.
It was precisely this darkness that intrigued Adam Johnson. His new novel, The Orphan Master's Son (Random House), takes place in North Korea and brings the country—and the brutality of its everyday monotony—to life in vivid, exquisite detail. The book presents an intimacy with North Korea unheard of for a foreigner; Johnson accomplished it with extensive research and insightful prose, telling the story of Pak Jun Do, whose first taste of power comes when his father, who runs a work camp for orphans, allows his young son to chose which children eat first. Jun Do's abilities and loyalty to the "greatest nation in the world" get him noticed by the state, and he's put to work, as kidnapper, tunnel soldier, fishing boat radio operator, and foreign dignitary, before dangerously taking his destiny into his own hands (that great motivator, love, plays a role). Speaking recently in the lobby of New York City's Dream Hotel, Johnson explains that his fascination with North Korea began as an interest in the voices of propaganda. "The notion that there is an official narrative for a nation—a script written by one person, essentially—that conscripts every citizen into being an unwilling character of someone else's story was really compelling to me."
Since 1945, North Korea's totalitarian regime has established control of every aspect of every citizen's life, from meager food rations (if there's any food at all) and factory assignments to the one color of lipstick available and the language used to justify even the most violent circumstances. Kim Il-sung, the father of current leader Kim Jong-il, mandated that loudspeakers hang in every factory, housing block, and city square; for decades since, every day, they have relentlessly reminded citizens that they are fortunate to live where the population wants for nothing. Always present is the threat of being arrested and imprisoned, or worse. As Johnson makes clear, "The gulag system there is so devastating, and people do go away. They really go away."
For Johnson, a Stegner Fellow who teaches at Stanford University, exploring this tension between the oppressive regime and the enduring spirit of the human heart became central to the book's development. On one hand, the logic behind the propaganda becomes the reality, because there are no other available explanations, no alternative perspectives. As Johnson emphasizes, even during the Soviet gulags, "Solzhenitsyn got his books out."
In North Korea, by contrast, "there are no magazines and no bookstores. There's the official newspaper and the official radio." Radios come programmed to one state-controlled station and any tampering is grounds for incarceration. All paintings, including hundreds in the national museum, depict two things: Kim Il-sung, or Kim Jong-il, looking heroic, or a pastoral setting without people, vehicles, buildings, or anything else that might indicate individual interpretation. The novels that do exist offer only more propaganda, forever depicting the triumphant sacrifice of some martyred peasant. Knowing that "no one there is allowed to write [his or her] own story," Johnson wanted to try. He felt "a duty to get to that darkness."
Because Johnson wanted to convey the unremitting presence of the dictatorship, he initially tried to incorporate real propaganda into the story, but found them insufferably boring in the context of a novel. Retelling "news" stories, such as that of Kim Jong-il's reported 11 holes-in-one golf game, became even more absurd on the page, and Johnson knew that a setting of only prisons and labor camps would be too bleak for an American audience. The challenge became how to capture this place where free will does not exist, yet find the humor and humanity necessary to tell an honest story.
In 2007, after three years of research, Johnson went to North Korea, flying from San Francisco to Pyongyang through Beijing. Securing a tourist visa is difficult, but the government's increasing need for hard currency can open doors. Johnson was told what date he would be arriving, what date he would be leaving, and that he would be flying (and paying for) business class on a plane built in 1963. He was in North Korea just under a week, including several days spent on an island in Pyongyang designated to keep foreigners separate from the city. He was kept in the constant company of his many minders, one of whom videotaped everything Johnson said (for purposes of a "tourist DVD"). Although the trip was brief, the experience of intimidation proved invaluable.
"Even visiting, it was clear to me that a spontaneous act was a dangerous act. To do anything, at any moment, that wasn't calculated within its alignment of the national script could get you in grave trouble," he says. Johnson quickly understood that he could not have a "genuine interaction with a single person there. It is illegal to speak with foreigners without special training. The minders... had been through years of specialized language training and diplomacy, in terms of protocol." Instead of being deterred by this constant surveillance, Johnson used it to the benefit of the book, following Jun Do through his many state-appointed incarnations and, in the book's second half, entering the head of another paradoxical character, a family man and professional biographer who records people's life stories as they're tortured.
Johnson's previous novel, Parasites Like Us (Penguin, 2004), tracks an academic who unearths the self-destructive practices of the prehistoric Clovis civilization—and the ramifications that follow. The stories of Emporium (Penguin, 2003) exist in an oddly skewed suburbia populated with alienated youth. "Teen Sniper" chronicles a kid who expertly offs pesky Silicon Valley bigwigs but still can't bring himself to talk to girls. In his disparate works, Johnson renders something inaccessible with such completely tangible details that the unfamiliar becomes inevitable.
In the DPRK, the use of electricity is extremely limited, and not only at night. Even in daytime, in big, national museums, buildings designed, Johnson said, "to be as inspiring and opulent as possible," each room is kept dark until a motion sensor light allows visitors to see the dioramas and artifacts in front of them. Similarly, only a few floors of the immense tourist hotel have power. Johnson sees in this a metaphor for all of North Korea: "a gigantic, dark palace, of which you can only see one room at a time." The Orphan Master's Son, however, illuminates not only the shadowy places its characters inhabit but also their hopes and the flickers of their compassion, which can't be diffused, even in the dark.
Johnson often interrupts himself while speaking, jumping from memories of his trip to deeper considerations of how people create their own narratives. "I wanted to get at some essential thing that you can't get at, with this topic, with nonfiction. There are facts, but people focus on the economics, the military, all these global or political issues. But the true nature of the human lives people are leading is still blurry. All the great reportage out there doesn't get to that, so I invented it."
Liesl Schwabe's work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, AGNI, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and other publications.